Partial solar eclipse to give Mumbai a miss

Sky gazers in the city will not be able to witness the partial solar eclipse on Tuesday -- unlike their counterparts in many parts of north India.

“A solar eclipse occurs through a narrow path and can be seen only from certain points of the earth, with only half the earth able to view it,” said Piyush Pandey, director, Nehru Planetarium, Worli. “This is unlike the lunar eclipse that can be seen at the same time from across a vast area of the earth.”

A partial eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are not exactly in line and the moon only partially obscures the sun.

Starting at 12.10pm, the partial solar eclipse will end at 4.31pm.

In India, the eclipse will begin at around 2.30pm and will pass over Kutch, parts of Gujarat, Ajmer, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Delhi, Dwaraka, Haridwar, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Nainital, Simla and Srinagar.

It will end around 3.50pm.

While it will be visible in Europe, North Africa and Central Asia, Stockholm in Sweden will witness the maximum eclipse when 85% of the sun’s diameter will be covered by the moon.

The last time the city witnessed a partial solar eclipse was on July 22, 2009. But the heavy rains and cloudy skies prevented Mumbaiites to get their solar glasses out and view it.

On January 14 last year, Mumbai witnessed the millennium’s longest annual solar eclipse when the sun appeared as a very bright ring, surrounding the outline of the moon.

Deepak Shah (20), an enthusiast, said he would miss seeing the eclipse, even if it is a partial one. “It’s anyway rare to see an eclipse, whether partial or total. And I wouldn’t have missed this one too,” said Shah. It’s a beautiful phenomena taking place in the skies.”